Don't Sign Your Listing Agreement Until You Read This

Timeline and Key Parties

You'll typically sign 1-2 weeks before your home hits the MLS. This gives you time to complete final repairs while your agent arranges professional photos, measurements, and marketing materials. The listing period typically runs 3-6 months in Colorado Springs (longer for luxury properties in slower markets).

After you sign, your agent schedules photos, lists your home in the MLS, begins marketing, coordinates showings, and handles buyer inquiries.

Key Components of Your Listing Agreement

Commission Structure

The listing agreement specifies what you'll pay your listing brokerage and whether you'll offer compensation to a buyer's agent. Commission rates are negotiable—they're not set by law.

Recent industry changes mean sellers are no longer required to offer buyer's agent compensation, and when they do, it's not automatically advertised through the MLS. This doesn't affect how buyer's agents initially view your property, but it becomes critical when their client wants to make an offer. If you haven't offered buyer's agent compensation, the buyer must pay their agent's fee directly—which often reduces how much they can offer for your home or potentially kills the deal entirely.

Your agreement should also clarify who pays for photography, staging consultations, marketing materials, MLS fees, and lockbox rental.

Listing Period and Cancellation

Your agreement includes a specific end date, but the commitment doesn't always end there. Most agreements include a negotiable "holdover period" of in most cases 90-180 days. If someone who viewed your home during the active listing buys it during this period, you still owe commission. Cancellation terms vary significantly. Some brokerages allow cancellation with written notice if you're unhappy. Others require you to pay commission even if you withdraw early or charge termination fees. Ask upfront what your options are.

Your Agent's Obligations

Colorado law requires listing agents to exercise reasonable skill and care, promote your interests with good faith, disclose material facts, and keep confidential information private.

Your listing agreement should specify marketing commitments: professional photography, MLS listing, syndication to major sites, social media promotion, open houses, and communication frequency. Vague promises like "aggressive marketing" don't hold up when performance becomes an issue.

Pricing Authority

You control all pricing decisions—from initial list price to reductions and offer acceptance. To change the price, you'll sign an "Amend/Extend" form documenting the new price.

When your agent recommends a price reduction or advises on an offer, they should back it up with data: comparable sales, days on market, showing feedback, and current market trends. Data-driven decisions differ from pressure to close a deal.

Transaction-Brokerage and Designated Brokerage

Many states allow dual agency, where one agent represents both buyer and seller. Colorado does not. Instead, Colorado uses transaction-brokerage, where the agent acts as a neutral facilitator treating all parties fairly.

Agency means your agent has a fiduciary duty to advocate for your best interests. Under transaction-brokerage, you lose that advocacy—your agent must remain neutral.

Transaction-brokerage typically occurs when an unrepresented buyer contacts your agent directly about your home. However, if a buyer working with a different agent at your brokerage wants to purchase your home, the brokerage can use designated brokerage. Your agent continues advocating for you while the buyer's agent advocates for their client. The brokerage remains neutral, but each agent maintains their advocacy role.

Your listing agreement should clearly explain both arrangements and what they mean for your level of representation.

Colorado-Specific Disclosures

While disclosure forms aren't attached to your listing agreement, they're legally connected to it. Your agreement references these required disclosures and establishes completion timelines:

• Lead-Based Paint Disclosure (for homes where a building permit was issued prior to January 1, 1978) – Federal law requires disclosure of known hazards Seller's Property Disclosure – Disclose known conditions, defects, and material facts
• HOA and Metro District Disclosures – Documentation about fees, assessments, and financial health (critical in Banning Lewis Ranch, Cordera, Wolf Ranch) Here's the enhanced version:
• Square Footage Disclosure – Colorado doesn't mandate how square footage must be measured, but it does require transparency. When agents advertise square footage, they must disclose the source on a state-approved form—whether it's the county assessor, builder plans, an appraisal, or the agent's own measurement. If your agent measures, the measurement doesn't have to be exact, but it must clearly state the methodology used and note that it's for marketing purposes only. If precise square footage matters for your purchase decision, hire an independent measurer. Different measurement standards (ANSI, assessor records, builder specs) can produce significantly different results for the same home.

The Seller listing agreement should outline which disclosures apply to your property, completion timelines, and who's responsible for obtaining third-party documents.

Fine Print That Matters

• Automatic renewal clauses – Some agreements auto-extend unless you provide written notice
• Early termination fees – Some brokerages charge fees if you cancel early Showing instructions – Conditions agents must follow: advance notice, lockbox protocols, tenant notification, pet considerations
• Dispute resolution – Colorado typically uses mediation first, though some agreements require binding arbitration

Questions to Ask Before You Sign

• What specific marketing will you do in the first 30 days?
• How often will we communicate?
• What's your cancellation policy?
• What happens if we need to adjust the price?
• What's included in your commission vs. what costs extra?
• What's the holdover period, and how do you track protected buyers?

Understanding Your Options

The Exclusive Right to Sell is the industry standard, but some sellers explore FSBO, discount brokerages, or flat-fee MLS services. Each has different implications for services received and costs paid.

When Things Go Wrong

When communication breaks down or disagreements arise, the listing agreement becomes your first reference point. Understanding dispute resolution options and what documentation to maintain protects you if conflicts escalate.

The Bottom Line

A listing agreement isn't a formality—it's a binding contract that determines how your home gets sold, what you'll pay, and what recourse you have if things don't go as planned.

Read it. Question anything unclear. Negotiate terms that don't work for you. The best agents welcome informed sellers.

At Springs Homes, we walk every seller through their listing agreement section by section. We believe informed sellers make better partners, and transparency builds the trust that successful home sales require.

Ready to sell your Colorado Springs home with an agent who values education and honesty? Contact Springs Homes to schedule a consultation.